The European cookbook for American homes (from Italy, Spain, Portugal and France)

i pound dry kidney beans i tablespoon flour i goose leg and wing from "confit d'oie" % cup goose fat or butter % pound bacon, chopped i large onion, sliced i quart meat broth i large tomato, chopped i herb bouquet l/2 pound country sausage Bread crumbs Chopped parsley Soak beans over night, then parboil until skins slip. Drain. Add boiling water and salt and cook until % done; drain. Brown goose leg and wing in fat. Fry bacon and onion until lightly browned. Blend in flour, add boiling broth slowly and cook 5 minutes. Add tomato and bouquet, cook for a few FRENCH 341 minutes and remove bouquet. Put mixture in an earthenware casserole with the sausages and bake until done. Sprinkle with crumbs and parsley and allow to become brown and crisp. Cassoulet is the dish that Sheila Hibben deservedly calls "that divine gift of the Midi." The recipe differs slightly in the various districts. In Carcassonne pork chops and garlic are added; in Toulouse, a portion of leg of mutton or lamb; in Bas Languedoc, juniper berries; in Gascony, white wine and browned pork; in Perigord, truffles, of course, and stuffed gooseneck, with juniper berries. Limosin makes a cassoulet without confit d'oie. And Alsace, home of the goose, and a pate de foie gras, seizes upon the Languedocian invention with enthusiasm, and adds the calf's foot and knuckle, and smoked ham and smoked sausage, with which other fine Alsatian dishes are adorned. SAUCE OF CHIVES (Sauce Civette) 1 slice fresh white bread Salt 4 egg yolks, hard-boiled Pepper 2 tablespoons olive oil Vinegar Sugar (granulated) 1 tablespoon chives, chopped fine Cut away bread crusts, soak the soft center in water, squeeze dry and rub with egg yolks through hair sieve. Stir in the olive oil, season sour-sweet to taste. When smooth, whip in the chives. In French the word civette means both civet cat and chives. It is not to be confounded with civet, the French word for jugged hare or stewed rabbit; yet there is a close connection between cat and rabbit, for the domestic cat often takes the place of the wild hare or rabbit in the French jug or stew, so we may surmise that this dish took its name not from the chives with which it is sometimes cooked, but from a playful substitution 342 THE EUROPEAN COOKBOOK of wild cat, or civet cat, for the hare. In Paris an alley cat is also called a "roof rabbit." Languedoc VOL-AU-VENT A LA TOULOUSE i chicken breast, cooked i cup white sauce i sweetbread cooked in chicken *4 cup white wine broth Salt and pepper Tiny chicken quenelles Patty or puff paste shells Sliced truffle Cut chicken and sweetbread in small dice; simmer a few minutes, with quenelles and truffle, in white sauce mixed with wine. Season; fill shells with mixture, allowing i quenelle and i bit of truffle for each. Set in oven and heat. (An addition of mushrooms, minced ham, and bits of cocks' combs, is in order if the vol-au-vents are being made in any quantity.)